Furniture Arrangement for Built-in Appliances

ABSTRACT

A furniture arrangement for built-in appliances is provided wherein a front panel is fastened to every built-in appliance. A first built-in appliance is arranged without an interposed partition wall directly next to a piece of furniture or an additional built-in appliance and a frame element imitating the missing partition wall is provided on the front panel of at least one built-in appliance.

The invention relates to a furniture arrangement for built-in appliances as claimed in the preamble of claim 1.

Home appliances, such as dishwashers or refrigerators, are nowadays usually designed as built-in appliances, which are concealed by front panels adapted to the furniture fronts of the fitted kitchen, so that the fitted kitchen achieves as uniform an appearance as possible.

Four design principles are essentially known in terms of the design of fitted kitchens, these differing from one another in respect of the manufacture of the carcasses and the arrangement of furniture fronts in relation to the carcasses, namely the full overlay, the standard overlay, the offset design and the inset design.

With the full overlay, the individual furniture fronts completely cover the furniture carcasses. With the standard overlay, the individual furniture fronts surrounding a predetermined measurement of 25 mm for instance are dimensioned to be smaller than the respective furniture carcass upon which they are provided so that the overall appearance has a frame-like structure. The offset design essentially corresponds to the standard overlay. However, the individual front elements in the boundary area are designed thinner, as a result of which the frame-like structure is further accentuated. With the inset design, the furniture front is smaller than the clear width of a frame disposed on the circumferential edge of the opening of the carcass. The furniture front sits within the frame and is approximately flush with the viewing window of the frame.

The frame-like structure with the inset design can only be achieved if each built-in appliance is accommodated in its own carcass, or if corresponding partitions are inserted between two built-in appliances or between one built-in appliance and a piece of furniture. If the built-in appliances are integrated without their own furniture carcass and without partitions, the frame-like structure is interrupted.

The object underlying the invention is to enable an optimized use of space for furniture arrangements, in particular fitted kitchens which are characterized by a frame-like structure of this type, without the built-in appliance disrupting the appearance of the furniture arrangement.

The object is achieved in accordance with the invention by a furniture arrangement with the features of claim 1. With the inventive furniture arrangement, a first built-in appliance without a partition is arranged directly adjacent to a piece of furniture or an additional built-in appliance. A frame element is provided on the front panel of at least one built-in appliance, said frame element imitating the missing partition so that the front panel fits in with the appearance of the frame-like partitioned furniture fronts when the built-in appliance is closed.

The use of a furniture carcass for the built-in appliance or of partitions is unnecessary here, as a result of which, on the one hand, the assembly effort involved in constructing the furniture arrangement reduces by comparison with the prior art, whereas on the other hand the additional installation space needed for the flanges or side parts is omitted. This not only gives rise to a space-saving by comparison with the conventional design. Furthermore, fewer restrictions in terms of planning the furniture arrangement and thus an improved ability to plan result due to the missing side parts, which is particularly advantageous in the case of planning fitted kitchens due to the plurality of built-in appliances to be included. It is also possible to integrate wider built-in appliances with two doors, for instance refrigerators with a separate freezer compartment, into the furniture arrangement without interrupting the claimed frame-like structure.

If the width of the built-in appliance corresponds somewhat to the width of the furniture carcasses arranged adjacent thereto, it is advantageous if a frame element is provided on the two vertically coursed edges of the front panel in each instance. If necessary, it is also proposed to provide a frame element on each edge of the conventional rectangular front panel, as a result of which a closed frame is formed.

If the width of the built-in appliance is significantly greater than the width of the adjacently arranged furniture carcass, it is proposed to extend the front panel by means of at least one vertically coursed frame part, which is provided hereupon symmetrically between the edges of the front panel.

The frame element is preferably embodied in one piece on the front panel. This is then advantageous for instance if the visible surface of the front panel is coated with a correspondingly designed laminate in the form of a decor paper, upon which the frame elements are already pre-printed.

Alternatively or in addition to the previously described exemplary embodiment, it is also possible to embody the frame element as a separate component, which is, if necessary, subsequently detachably fastened to the front panel. In this case, it is advantageous if corresponding recesses for inserting the frame element are provided on the front panel in order to achieve a flush transition between the front panel and the frame elements.

In a preferred embodiment, the visible surface of the front panel is flush with the visible surface of the frame element provided on the front panel. In this way, it is possible for the front panel to be used for the previously described inset design.

Alternatively, the visible surface of the front panel runs opposite to the frame element/elements provided on the front panel, as a result of which the front panel can be used for the offset design.

The front panel is preferably detachably fastened to the built-in appliance by fastening devices provided on its rear, in order to facilitate the assembly and disassembly of the front panel. The front panel can alternatively also be provided with fittings in order to join the front panel to a furniture carcass arranged adjacent thereto for instance. Such an attachment is advantageous in built-in appliances for instance, which oscillate during operation, washing machines or laundry driers for instance, in order to decouple the front panel from the built-in appliance in an oscillatory fashion.

Further details and advantages of the invention result from the subclaims in conjunction with the description of an exemplary embodiment, which is described in more detail with reference to the drawing, in which;

FIG. 1 shows a front view of a section of a fitted kitchen with an integrated fridge/freezer

FIG. 2 shows a cut-out plan view of the section shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 shows a front view of a section of a fitted kitchen 1. The section shown has two built-in cabinets 2 as well as a tall cabinet 3 fixedly connected hereto and arranged on each built-in cabinet 2. Two built-in appliances 4 and 5 are arranged between the two built-in cabinets 2, these being in the present case a freezer (arranged on the left) and a fridge (arranged on the right).

As shown in FIG. 2 in the cut-out plan view onto the section of the fitted kitchen 1 shown in FIG. 1, each of the two built-in cabinets 2 is formed from a carcass 6, which is open toward the front of the fitted kitchen 1 and the opening 7 of which is sealed in the known manner by a furniture front 8, which is joined to the carcass 6 by means of fittings (not shown). Furthermore, four frame elements 9 are fastened to the circumferential edge of the opening 7, the visible surfaces of which are flush with the visible surface of the furniture front 8, when the furniture front 8 is closed. The two tall cabinets 3 are also embodied accordingly, with the carcass 6 of the tall cabinet 3 similarly being connected to the carcass 6 of the built-in cabinet 2 in the known manner.

The embodiment of the built-in cabinet 2 and the tall cabinet 3 shown in FIG. 2 enables the front of the fitted kitchen 1 to achieve the frame-like structure which is particularly apparent in FIG. 1, said structure being further reinforced by an additional frame-like decor 10.

As is also apparent from FIG. 2, the two built-in appliances 4 and 5 are not accommodated in a carcass but are instead arranged between the two carcasses 6 of the two built-in cabinets 2. Since the two built-in appliances 4 and 5 are however not accommodated in a carcass, the circumferential edges of the openings of the carcasses which are otherwise needed to fasten the frame elements are omitted.

In order nevertheless to achieve the desired frame-like structure, each of the two built-in appliances 4 and 5 is provided with an inventive front panel 11. To this end, several fastening devices 12 are provided on the rear of each front panel 11, with which the front panel 11 is attached to the respective built-in appliance 4 and/or 5. The front panel 11 according to the invention is correspondingly configured like the furniture fronts 8 arranged adjacent thereto and is provided with the decor 10. The circumferential edges of each front panel 11 are moved so that recesses 13 are embodied hereupon. A frame element 9 is inserted into each recess 13, said frame element 9 being flush with the visible surface of the front panel 11.

These measures allow the front panel 11 of each of the two built-in appliances 4 and 5 to achieve an appearance which corresponds to that of the furniture fronts 8 arranged adjacent thereto, so that the frame-like structure distinguishing the appearance of the fitted kitchen is not disrupted.

The inventive front panel 11 renders the hitherto conventional use of additional flanges and side parts in the prior art unnecessary, which otherwise have to be attached to the carcasses 6 with corresponding effort and require unnecessary installation space. 

1-8. (canceled)
 9. A furniture arrangement for a built-in appliance and at least one additional built-in appliance, including built-in refrigeration devices, the furniture arrangement comprising: a front panel on a door front of each of the built-in appliances a partition on at least one of the built-in appliances, one of the built-in appliances being free of a partition and being located directly adjacent to another one of the built-in appliances; and a frame element on a front panel of at least one of the built-in appliances that imitates the missing partition.
 10. The furniture arrangement as claimed in claim 9, wherein a frame element is provided on the two vertically coursed sides of the front panel in each instance.
 11. The furniture arrangement as claimed in claim 9, wherein the at least one frame element is embodied in one piece with the front panel.
 12. The furniture arrangement as claimed in claim 9, wherein the frame element provided on the front panel is a separate component and is detachably connected to the front panel.
 13. The furniture arrangement as claimed in claim 9, wherein the visible surface of the front panel is flush with the visible surface of the frame element.
 14. The furniture arrangement as claimed in claim 9, wherein the visible surface of the front panel is raised in comparison with the visible surface of the frame element.
 15. The furniture arrangement as claimed in claim 9, wherein fastening devices for the detachable fastening of the front panel to the built-in appliance are provided on the rear of the front panel.
 16. The furniture arrangement as claimed in claim 9, wherein the front panel is provided with fittings for joining to one of the furniture carcasses. 